Lost
by gaybaconprincess
Summary: When the HIVE and a team of Teen Titans come across The Scarecrow, things take a turn for the worse. Scarecrow scrambles teams, setting villain and hero at a crossroad where they'll have to work together to find home. Morals and ideals are tested, and in the end, can the metahumans set aside their pride for the sake of family? [Focuses on a different pairing each chapter]
1. Enter: Bay

[Hi! Guess who? It's me, again! So, someone on tumblr flooded me with amazing art, so I'm writing this story for them! I KNOW I need to get back to the eighty thousand fics I have on hold, and I'm planning to get back to Runs In The Family very soon. To be fair though, I was also flooded with new Kyd Wykkyd headcanons, so expect some more Kyd fics to pop up too. Enjoy this if you will - it's a...strange ship. Oh well.]

Seymour O'Connor - See-More - _often_ found himself stopping whatever he was doing and asking himself how he managed to get to that point in his life. Usually, he never did anything about the answer, because, _usually_ , the answer was that he was in his shitstorm situation either because of his own decisions or because of the decisions of someone he cared about - and, consequently - couldn't really explode at. This, however - oh no, _this_ he was definitely going to explode on _somebody_ for.

Was it _Seymour's_ idea to travel to Gotham in search of an especially alluring target - one that was obviously a trap - a warning claim that _no one_ listened to? No. No, it was most certainly not.

Was it _Seymour's_ idea to stay in the scary, chemical smelling warehouse despite the many warning signs that stood loud and proud in the HIVE Five's way, screaming at them to go home? No - that wasn't his decision either.

But no, what really, _really_ pissed Seymour off - was that under no circumstances whatsoever was it _his_ idea to end up choking on seawater, next to a virtually useless redhead, who was smiling weakly at Seymour and silently pleading him _not_ to sock him in the face now that he was powerless.

See-More groaned, attempting to ignore the sickening aftertaste of saltwater as he laid his free hand on his face, gritting his teeth in frustration as he attempted to calm his raging nerves.

Jinx had found a target set all the way in Gotham City - inside of a seemingly abandoned warehouse that was filled to the brim with blueprints of every bank within the eighty mile radius. It would be a foolish move not to go after it, though it was even more foolish to charge into the warehouse with their guards down. Eventually, a makeshift team of Titans showed up to stop the HIVE, hoping to get to them before Batman did and spare the lost teenagers the dreadful experience of being sent to Arkham at such a young age. And, of course, as if the Titans weren't enough, all twelve superpowered teen found themselves face to face with a criminal much out of their leagues - one that was less than enthused about them all trespassing on his hiding place.

All See-More could really remember after that was a very sad, fearful whimper coming from his proud, confident, powerful leader, as her eyes watered at the sight of The Scarecrow.

After that, See-More supposed The Scarecrow had wanted to use them as test subjects. All he remembered was being hit with a sickeningly toxic gas, and then waking up leaning on a strange looking device that kept both Kid Flash and himself afloat in the middle of a dark ocean. The device immediately let go of See-More's hands once See-More fully awoke, throwing him into the sea. The large splash must've awoken Kid Flash, because the only reason See-More managed to resurface was because of an obnoxiously colored speedster dragging him back up to lean back on the floating device.

And so, here the two were. Gasping for breath after swimming for what felt like miles and learning all they could about their predicament. Apparently, Scarecrow had inserted a device into each person's wrist, binding them to whoever Scarecrow sent them away with. It was like an invisible string, in a way. Like a forcefield. Except that whenever See-More or Kid Flash moved more than four feet away from each other, they were both shocked with an electrical current that See-More was sure he'd feel for the next week at the least.

Also, neither of their powers worked.

According to what See-More could manage to remember, seeing Scarecrow give each person a weird look before marking a different symbol on each pairs wrist, Jinx was stuck with Robin (something that couldn't bode well for _anyone_ ), Gizmo was with that Wonder chick, Kyd was with Jericho (something See-More was sure Kyd didn't mind all that much, stupid prick got off lucky this time), Billy Numerous ended up with Raven (honestly See-More knew already it would be a miracle if Billy was only mentally scarred once this was all over), and Mammoth was with Starfire.

See-More had to find Scarecrow and fix this. If he had to listen to even one more of Kid Flash's overly optimistic pipes, he'd-

"Well I mean, it could be wor-"

"Would you SHUT UP ALREADY?" See-More yelled, bolting straight up from his position where he was laying on the pier of where the ocean met land, where there seemed to be a large construction site.

"God- I've had it with you! I don't- how can your team even- GAH!" See-More yelled in frustration, throwing his helmet off of his messy, wet haired head and standing up, stomping around in a circle for a while as to not set off another shock, but also to at least somewhat calm his nerves.

"Well, it could be! Geez- you act like being stuck with me for just half an hour is the worst thing that could happen to you!" Kid Flash said with a glare, crossing his arms.

See-More let out an annoyed huff before he sat down with his (miraculously) unharmed communicator, planning to try and detect where the other HIVE communicators were located, along with his missing friends.

"...You know, all your crap is floating away." Kid Flash said as he stared off at the strangely beautiful scene of pounds and pounds of jewelry and gold floating away into the dark ocean, lit up like neon due to the ethereal glow of the snowy moon.

See-More shrugged his shoulders, still focused intensely on the beeping buttons and glowing gears of his now taken apart communicator, trying desperately to hang on to any of Gizmo's rambles to remember how exactly to do this.

Kid Flash looked at See-More with a strange look for a moment, coming to realization.

"...You don't even care, do you?" He said with a tilt of his head.

He was met with deafening silence.

"...I don't understand you. I can at least somewhat understand your loser friends-"

Wally was met with a dangerous glare, though it weakened as See-More realized that, yes, his friends were all complete losers, himself included.

"-But you? You don't care about the money or the fame- you never have. So, why stay? Do those criminals really mean that much to you? ...I know you've been offered Teen Titans membership before, but you still turned it down to stay with...them. Why?" Kid Flash asked, watching with a focused gaze as See-More attempted to shake some more water out of his unruly hair.

"...Because those 'criminals', those 'losers', are more than friends, _jackass_." See-More spat, getting defensive and continuing as he saw Kid Flash's wince at his last insult.

"Those idiot morons are my _family_ , okay? And I don't let _anyone_. Talk _bad_. About _my_ family. _Got that_?" See-More said, getting closer and closer to Kid Flash's face.

"S...S-sorry I was just...curious, I guess. I mean...I get it! I really do! That's...kinda how the Titans are for me. It's just...I don't know...Robin likes to kind of, dehumanize you guys, you know? He likes to make you all out to be soulless monsters, like you honestly aren't capable of really loving each other…" Wally excused, scratching the back of his neck and looking up to the pitch black sky.

"...I'm sorry." Wally said softly, just barely loud enough for See-More to hear.

See-More looked over, and without needing any special helmet or superpower, he could tell Kid Flash was genuinely regretful of offending him.

"Hey." See-More said as he leaned over some to elbow Kid Flash in the side with a playful smile, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty damn sure _my_ family is a lot more dysfunctional than yours."

"Oh yeah?" Flash countered with a large grin.

"Oh, don't even get me started Kid." See-More said with a roll of his eyes.

Kid Flash challenged him with a playful glare. See-More smirked.

"Okay, well, how about having an older sister figure who is head over heels for a Titan, and is constantly an absolute wreck because she's in worse mental shape than any other person on our team. Or the older brother figure who binges his weight times three every time he even gets the munchies, and continued to scare away any and all chances of dating? Oh- or of course, my favorite - the way, _way_ overprotective house cat of a gay cousin we have sleeping on the couch every night?" See-More rambled, smiling bittersweetly as he thought of his friends.

"...We'll find them. I promise." Kid Flash said with a smile, putting one hand on See-More shoulder comfortingly. Strangely, See-More didn't jump away.

"...You know, I think that's the first time you've actually said my name instead of insulting me. I'm proud." Kid Flash said with a smirk.

"Don't get too used to it." See-More said, looking down as his communicator suddenly began to glow with dark purple energy. It was an energy See-More knew well. At least one of his friends now knew where everyone was.

"What's so funny?" Kid Flash asked as See-More continued laughing to himself.

"You're gonna be nothing but chopped up strips of speedster when Elliot finds us." See-More said with finality.

[Well? I hoped you liked it. I know See-More seems different in this story than most of my others, that's mostly the mystery friend's doing. I hope you like the fic so far Shelly! Read and Review please!]


	2. Enter: Maze

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. This is going to be so much fun to write! I spent all day yesterday plotting out worlds and chapters, and this is going to be fun! I'm going to focus on a different pair each chapter, and know that for certain not every pair is romantic or even platonic. For example, it was so fun to write Robin and Jinx butting heads for half a chapter.]

"He let us go...but why? Why did he let us go?" Jinx mumbled to herself as she glared down at a single rock on the ground.

When Jinx and Robin had woken up from their fear toxin induced slumber, they had no idea in the slightest where they were. Jinx had personal experience with most countries in the middle east, and Robin had gone through extensive and thorough education on all places on Earth a villain could send them.

God, Robin hated himself right now. As of now, he was sitting on the ground with his back turned to Jinx, his mind working at a thousand miles per hour. He should've _known_ , he should've been able to lead his team _out of there_. Batman would've been able to handle that situation perfectly, and he'd told Robin countless times of how dangerous The Scarecrow was and how to handle him, and yet he'd still messed up.

No matter how terrible the two both felt about failing their teams, they had to focus on the here and now. Only, neither of them could figure out where here was - or if there even was a here.

All around them was nothing but a vacuous mass of black space. They were standing on ground that felt like rock - like a cliff. The cliff seemed to be colored a lightish darkish purple, changing hues as the rock moved along the ground. From where they were on the ground, Robin was swinging his legs over a strictly cut piece of cliff, one that definitely wasn't natural. The ground just...stopped. It looked like the sheer edge of a paper, cut perfectly in a horizontal line and seeming to go on forever and ever. As Robin looked down over the cliff, there was just more empty space. Robin took a moment to experimentally drop a bit of rock next to him over the cliff, and as he listened, there was no 'thud'. There was no way of knowing how far down a drop it was to the actual ground of the place, but Robin didn't want to find out.

Robin made a frustrated humming noise for a moment before laying down on the ground and hanging his head under the cliff. There were only about four inches of rock that made up the ground - something physically impossible to hold them up because of the even thinner cliff of rock that seemed to sprout of the darkness like an undergrown tree, connecting itself to the floating cliff and holding it in the air.

"Hey!" Robin said in dismay as he felt Jinx's claw like fingers yank on his hair harshly and pull him up from where he was looking down.

"What's wrong with you? If you fall, I'll die, remember? Electro-shock wrists?" Jinx said in a shrill tone, waving around the symbol on her wrist that marked where Scarecrow had inserted his electric device.

Robin smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of his neck.

"Ugh, you'd _think_ the leader of the Teen Titans would at least be a _little bit_ more mature than the overrated party of apes I take care of back home." Jinx muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Hey- don't push it, Jinx. You're still a villain, and I'm still taking you into custody when we find a way home. The only reason I'm tolerating you now is because we need to find home together." Robin said in his leader tone, glaring and standing up from where Jinx had more or less thrown him on the ground by his hair.

"Alright, alright, bird boy! Give it a rest, I'm not one of your Titans in need of a lecture or a life lesson." Jinx said turning around and looking down at the lonely rock on the ground again, no bigger than the length of her thumb.

"...So." Jinx said, turning back around. If she was going to get home, she knew she needed to keep this idiot around, he knew more about her than Scarecrow, and right now, her friends mattered more to her than her pride.

"...Why did he let us go? Does he normally do this to his test subjects?" Jinx asked.

Robin gave a surprised look for a moment, caught off guard by the idea of Jinx actually being willing to cooperate with him.

"...No. I...I don't know why he let us go. Maybe...he was trying to get rid of us without killing us? But even still...this place doesn't read anywhere on my scanner." Robin said, glaring down at his communicator.

"...It just says that we're...nowhere." Robin said, his voice echoing out into the black void and settling back into him with a feeling of dread.

"...Magic? What about a separate dimension, a black hole?" Jinx offered, slowly walking back to Robin and standing next to him, looking down at the numbers and code on Robin's communicator - none of which made any sense to her.

"Scarecrow works alone - he always had and he always will. The only person he'd ever work with and not kill is The Mad Hatter, and neither of them can use magic." Robin said before flipping his communicator shut and walking again to the edge of the cliff, glaring at the void in deep thought. Jinx tilted her head a moment and realized that that was the same look she got when she was on the verge of a breakthrough in her plotting.

Maybe...just maybe, Robin was as worried for his friends as Jinx was worried for hers.

"Scarecrow is a scientist - but he only uses chemistry. He's a modern day Frankenstein, he's an absolute genius in that department, but he's no Captain Kirk. There's no way he would've been able to create a portal to a different dimension - or a black hole - without somebody in the perimeter realizing what was going on way before we arrived." Robin said, shivering a bit as he felt a gust of wind blow through his hair.

"...What?" Robin asked when he turned to see Jinx giving him a weird but strangely amused look.

"... _You_ watch _Star Trek_?" Jinx said with a shit eating grin.

"I-It's a really good franchise!" Robin spluttered, his face beet red as he internally screamed and reprimanded himself for letting that little bit of his personality slip in his monologue of thought.

"Oh, that's rich!" Jinx said among her buoyant laughter

Once Jinx settled down and realized Robin had just gone back to fiddling with his communicator, she took a deep breath and came to a decision.

"...Okay birdie, I've...got a proposition for you." Jinx said in all seriousness, turning around to face Robin outright.

"Oh no, no way. I don't make deals with villains. Let alone second rate thugs like yours-"

"Oh can it, bird brain, I'm not here to ask you to bust me out of jail." Jinx said in a hoarse tone.

"...Look. I feel like we _can_ make it out of here and back home, but we both know that's only gonna happen if we work together. So...if you stop putting on that mask of yours, then I'll be...nicer…?" Jinx offered, holding out her hand.

"Negative. The mask stays-" Robin began, before he felt Jinx flick his forehead like he'd imagine an older sister to.

" _Metaphorical_ mask, robin hood. Since we've left our teams I've seen how different you act." Jinx said with a knowing look.

"...I know...you miss them. They're your family. I miss my family too. And I mean…" Jinx said before letting out a deep sigh, making Robin finally turn to look at her.

"...I know how difficult it is to keep up a _persona_ , to be this perfect, strong, confident person because you _know_ that if you aren't, you're letting your entire family, everyone you've _ever_ loved, down. You _have_ to be strong for them, I get it." Jinx said, before blinking rapidly. Robin could swear that for a moment he could see her blinking back tears, but he refused to believe it true.

"...but I don't need you to be the hero for me, okay? Right now, what's going to keep me from having another mental breakdown-" Jinx said in a broken voice. Robin made sure to make a mental note of that. He didn't peg Jinx for the person to have any mental illnesses. From how she's spoken he supposes it's anxiety or-

"I need you to be a person, alright? My team is normally what keeps me afloat, all their dumb jokes and their immature games- it keeps me alive. So right now, I don't need you to boss me around, I need you to act like you're an actual human being - a teenager. Can you handle that?" Jinx said in a confident voice, her eyes nearly begging Robin.

"...I can try." Robin said after a long moment of silence.

"I'm not that good with jokes but I suppose...I can be a little less bossy." Robin said begrudgingly, smiling as Jinx's relieved sigh.

"...So does this mean you're gonna stop calling me 'birdie'?" Robin asked.

Jinx's smile was suddenly blocked off from Robin, and he heard Jinx let out a shrill shriek. All around them, thick metal walls the same color as the ground had sprouted up in weird arrangement.

"A maze...Jinx? Jinx, can you hear me?" Robin yelled, knocking on the steel that had cut them off to get her attention.

"Robin- Robin what's happening?! Where- I ca-can-" Jinx stuttered in a panicked voice, one that Robin had never heard in his life, as she desperately banged on the steel as if she could break through it.

"Jinx! Jinx, I need you to breathe, calm down!" Robin yelled over to her worriedly.

"I c-ca- I CAN'T! I...No! NO! These- th-these are the- are the same walls as-" Jinx stuttered, tears welling up in her eyes as she fell to her knees and clawed at the steel wall in front of her.

 _The same as the Academy!_ She wanted to scream. She couldn't. She wouldn't. She refused to let Robin know this fear of hers, she wouldn't let him in so easily.

Ever since the Academy, Jinx had hated steel walls, or any walls for that matter. She had been trapped, alone, freezing inside those walls for more than half of her life. The steel felt cold and dead and lifeless under her fingertips then, and it still felt the same now. The steel messed with her powers in the Academy, and though she knew she wouldn't be able to use her powers now anyway, she hated the reminder of being so helpless. Jinx's mind was flooding, all she could hear was Blood screaming at her and beating her and scrambling her brain with his commands! She couldn't see- she couldn't breathe! She-!

"JINX!" Robin yelled, his voice breaking over the wind and the suffocating breakdown Jinx was having.

"...breathe." Robin said.

It took almost fifteen full minutes, but Jinx could breathe. She stood up on her side of the chilling wall and placed her palms on it.

"...So what do we do now?" Jinx asked quietly, her voice echoing through the steel.

"...Well…" Robin said with a smile to himself as he finally got a read of what the area really looked like on his scanner.

"...Mazes are meant to be solved, right?" Robin said, plotting out where they would have to travel to get out.

[I love my stubborn masked leaders. Read and Review please! Tell me what you think!]


	3. Enter: Jungle

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. This one is a bit short compared to the others, sorry. Gizmo is hard for me to write for.]

Wonder Girl woke up due to a shrill scream that sounded all around her and echoed painfully in her head. The raven haired girl groaned and rubbed her head in her hands as she sat up, cracking her back painfully. Before she turned to inspect whoever had screamed, she noticed that she was most definitely not on Earth with the Titans, but also not in Themyscira.

"My tech! It's all ruined!" yelled the voice yet again. Donna whipped around, ready to reprimand the small ten year old Gizmo for worrying over something so trivial, only to see the boy crying, and, yet again, she was reminded that he was merely a child.

"I'm...sorry about your toys, Gizmo." Donna said before standing up and really taking a look at her surroundings.

"But right now, we really need to focus on where we are. It seems we've found ourselves in an Earthen jungle of some sort, and from what I've learned, they are extremely dangerous." Donna said, looking up at the one opening in the canopy from which they must've fallen to the ground.

All around them were bright green plants and trees that Donna couldn't place or name. Since she's arrived on Earth she'd studied dutifully on the plants and animals that inhabited the planet, but she'd never recalled pink vines or trees that seemed to have teeth inside of them.

"You will follow me and you will stay close, understand?" Donna said in a dangerous tone, knowing it was the only way to get the small boy to cooperate.

Gizmo nodded sadly, and Donna realized that he was really, honestly, afraid. After all, Gizmo's powers centered around his technology, and without it, he was nothing more than a whiny, helpless ten year old boy.

"We're going to get back home, I promise, young Gizmo." Donna said, honestly trying her best to speak in a more laid back tone that Beast Boy had been trying to teach her. Of course, she only got a weird look from Gizmo, so she inferred that her laid back tone had come out not so laid back.

"So," Donna said, squatting down to Gizmo's height where he was sat sadly in the middle of a circle of his broken technology. "Is there anything you can salvage at all?"

"Um...well, not really. The mainframe inside of my scanner is scrambled, so that's out. And the security code on all of my tech was breached somehow before we left-" Donna more or less tuned out after that. As much as the Earth interested her, the technological advances of Earth would forever elude her. Though, it did make her happy to see that the normally whiny boy was somewhat happier now that he knew Donna wasn't going to treat him like the other heroes often did; undermining him, forgetting him, playing much too rough.

"Hey!" Gizmo yelled. Donna turned back to him with a determined glare and her sword in hand, ready for a battle. Gizmo hadn't yelled in pain, but in joy.

"My leg enhancers still work!" Gizmo cried happily before crawling around in a circle high in the air. Donna chuckled and shook her head as she once again sheathed her sword.

Her previously bright smile turned bittersweet. She had seen Gizmo in action before. He was bratty, loud, and mean to everyone - including his teammates. Seeing him like this made Wonder Girl realize what exact situation Gizmo found himself in. All the ten year old wanted was for someone to show him the smallest bit of kindness - that was all it took to turn him back into this playful child.

"Well, I suppose all we can do now is head forward. I can't place where the sun it, the canopy is shadowing too much, so while we will be heading in blind, we will have to make the journey in bravery." Donna said as she placed a hand on Gizmo's shoulder.

Gizmo gave her _another_ strange look.

"Uh...lady, you're way more skilled than I am in the nature department, I was gonna follow you anyway without the pep talk." Gizmo said with a shrug.

Donna sighed before she started blindly making her way through the underbrush of the jungle, cutting away vines with her sword and half growling at any stray alien looking animals that looked hungry.

"...You're really strong for a girl." Gizmo said after a long period of silence.

"What? Girls can't be strong?" Wonder Girl said, only glancing at Gizmo out of the corner of her eye.

"No, no. It's not that. It's just...I don't know, every other superhero girl I've met seems to depend on someone. Jinx has us, Starfire has her friends...but you…" Gizmo said, giving Donna another weird look.

"You're new. You only just became a Titan and you're one of the strongest, but you don't have anybody." Gizmo stated.

Donna stopped in her walking for a moment, giving this some thought and looking down at the innocently curious boy.

"...You're very observant." Donna said with a smile.

Donna's quiet moment with her newfound friend was rudely interrupted, as a low growl sounded throughout the clearing they found themselves in.

"...What was that?" Gizmo asked after a long moment of silence.

Neither expected one of the jungle's deadliest to come screaming out at them, but here it was.

It stood at least fifteen feet tall, foaming at the mouth and screaming through its bloodshot eyes. It was a spider - though obviously not an Earthen one.

Wonder Girl pushed Gizmo out of the way as the creature lunged, Donna holding it back with her sword, pushing it against it's clicking fangs.

"Gizmo! Gizmo, use your leg enhancers to slash at it!" Donna cried, not daring to look away from the monster. Once she did, she saw Gizmo near hyperventilating.

"...Gizmo, I need help!" Donna cried again. Gizmo shook his head of his fear, using his legs to grab high onto a tree before landing hard on the top of the beast's head. It definitely wasn't dead, but the knock to its head fended it off enough. It hissed hatefully one last time at a now panting Donna before retreating back into the jungle.

Donna's body hurt all over. Her ankles ached from holding onto the ground. Her joints screamed at her.

Donna smiled over at Gizmo.

"Did you _see_ that? I've never taken down a superhero - let alone a monster! That was amazing! Oh- I can't wait to rub this in Jinx's face when we get back!"

[Yeah, this one was short. I'm trying to get a hold on how to write Gizmo and Wonder Girl, I've never extensively written for either. Read and Review!]


	4. Enter: Darkness

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. JERIKYD JERIKYD JERIKYD! I'm so happy I get to write for my boys again, I love them so so very much. I wish I had more reasons to write for them. This one's a little different than my normal Jerikyd stuff. For once, Jericho is the one with the crush. Rip. Also, I've received a lot of new Kyd Wykkyd headcanons on tumblr, so I've incorporated some of those into here. Enjoy!]

Jericho woke up on hard ground that felt like rock. It was nothing like the grass he'd felt at his home in the mountains. He sat up and cracked his neck, looking around to see nothing. Nothing for miles and miles. Wherever he was, it was pitch black, and he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face when he waved it. He couldn't see the ground, only feel it.

He felt something, though. He felt a clawed hand swipe swiftly at his arm, cutting him deeper than Jericho thought it meant to and definitely drawing blood.

"Fuck!" He yelped in pain, albeit a bit girlishly, drawing his arm back and cradling it, feeling blood drip from his arm.

Jericho gasped in the largest breath he'd ever gasped.

"I CAN TALK!" Jericho practically screamed, standing up with his hands wrapped around his throat cautiously, smiling a smile bright enough to light up New York, though it obviously wasn't bright enough to light the darkness around him.

"...and yell, it seems." Came a voice from behind Jericho, Jericho jumping in surprise and nearly falling off of a...cliff…? Jericho was sure he hadn't felt a cliff in that area before, but before he could go tumbling to his doom, a set of glove hands grabbed him by his wrists and pulled him into a suited chest. The person was obviously taller than him, and Jericho set his mind to work trying to piece together who his comrade was based on his height. They were in the HIVE and taller than Jericho…

...Jericho sighed in frustration upon remembering that every member of the HIVE was taller than him besides Gizmo.

"...You can't see?" came the voice. Jericho blushed in the darkness when he noticed that the figure was still holding him almost intimately close to their chest as he shook his head.

"Ah...I mean, no, I can't." Jericho spoke, trying to use his words for as long as he could, though it would take a few more tries before he got fully used to it.

"Hm. Well, fortunately, I have enhanced eyesight. ...We are standing on what looks to be a cliff of some kind...it goes on for miles and it gets narrower as it leads...there's an opening that goes somewhere past the cliff...I believe it's a cave of some sort. We should start looking for a way home from there. Following this cliff lining will only lead us to an eventual end in the narrowness." the voice stated, void of emotion, and still holding Jericho close as ever.

Jericho tried so, so very hard to make out who it was by voice. After all, Robin did complain about how much the HIVE talked and insulted during battle.

"Sorry about the cut by the way. It shouldn't leave a scar, it should heal considerable soon. I only did so to make sure you were a person and not some creature that lived here." The voice apologized, and Jericho finally noticed that it let at least some emotion into its voice, and that he was genuinely sorry for cutting him.

The voice was...soothing. It wasn't loud or brash like every other Titan's, and it brought Jericho a sense of calm. The voice was obviously a boy's, but it wasn't too deep or too high pitched. Jericho couldn't detect an accent, though because of the vocabulary Jericho was sure this person was thoroughly educated. The voice made Jericho feel a bit insecure about his. His voice was girly and high pitched, and his vocal cords waved up and down. When he yelped from being startled earlier, he could practically _feel_ the figure wincing.

"Just hold on to my hand until we reach the cave. I believe we may be able to find some sort of light source inside." The voice stated calmly again.

Suddenly Jericho was being more or less dragged by his hand, and after tripping at least three times from behind the figure, Jericho finally decided to more or less wrap himself around the figure's arm as if he were a frightened teen on a date. While he wasn't on a date, he was more than a little frightened. Even though he was so close to his mystery partner, he still managed to trip a little more before they made it to the opening of the cave.

Jericho finally decided to detach himself from the figure's arm, hoping not to cut off blood flow, as the figure moved aside some sort of plant that seemed to be blocking their way in the darkness. As the curtain of shadow moved, Jericho could finally make out...something giving off light deeper into the cave like tunnel. Before he could bolt toward it, the voice once again stopped him.

"Don't rush in, the ground is covered in sharp objects that I believe to be stalagmites." The voice said, letting out a hum of thought. Jericho guessed that he was trying to think of how to get them both across. At least he didn't abandon Jericho like it would've been easier to do. It'd be too difficult to try and maneuver them both through the sharp rocks when only one of them could see clearly.

"...Do you trust me?" the voice said suddenly, snapping Jericho from his thoughts.

"...I...um…" Jericho had to think for a moment. So far, Jericho had no idea who this person was. All he knew was that this person was a supervillain, and that they had the power to see when Jericho didn't. If they wanted, they could lead Jericho straight into a pit.

Though, this person had also decided to drag Jericho along with them through the darkness, held his hand and dealt with possible bruising as Jericho grew more and more fearful over the cliff, _and_ had stopped to warn Jericho of the dangerous road ahead of them.

Jericho took a deep breath, going against every single lecture Robin had drilled into his brain.

"Yes. I trust you." Jericho said simply, a worried look on his face that he hoped the person couldn't make out as well as everything else.

Suddenly, Jericho felt himself being swept off his feet (literally) and being picked up bridal style by whoever this mysterious person was.

Jericho held his breath, trying so, so very hard not to make this awkward.

He wasn't doing a very good job of it.

After was felt like forever of getting past the stalagmites, the mystery person set him down again, and Jericho rushed over to where light was coming from, glad the light also gave off heat, and amazed at what was emitting it.

The inside of the cave was colored a light purple due to the lit up crystals inside. Large, jagged, sharp edged crystals lined all up and down the walls, lining the ceiling as well. They all seemed to be like glass - see through - and had strange floating orbs inside that emitted different colored lights. All the light where they were were light or deep blue or they were colored a mid hue purple. A few were colored pink, offering a bit more value to the mysterious cave. The cave appeared to be a tunnel of some sort, leading off into other caverns below it. There was just enough space for two people to fit walking down it without getting jabbed by crystals.

Jericho was amazed by how beautiful everything was that he almost forgot his previous embarrassment and fear. Even the bits of cave wall that didn't have crystals jutting out of them had smaller, oval shaped gems stuck in the wall like freckles. They were a neon green - the color of Jericho's own eyes - and had speckles of Jade in them that seemed to move around inside like magma.

Jericho reached out slowly in amazement, going to touch the beautiful gem before a black gloved hand caught his wrist and pulled it back.

"Stop it! We don't know what affects these things might have on human bod-" The mystery voice, now in full light said to Jericho.

Jericho's partner was Kyd Wykkyd.

...Jericho's secret HIVE crush that only Raven and Kole knew about was Kyd Wykkyd.

...Suddenly, Jericho felt infinitely more comfortable with the cliff of doom waiting outside for him.

"Ow- JESUS!" Kyd yelled in pain as he stepped back a full three feet and held his head in his hands - as if he had a migraine. He finally managed to look back up at Jericho with a look of extreme concern and bewilderment.

"...W-what? Why are you looking at me like that?" Jericho asked, his eyes still wide and his heart still racing a thousand miles per hour.

"Um...I...I can read the minds of people I'm touching, sometimes accidentally." Kyd answered.

"...Well...what did mine say to make you jump back so bad?" Jericho asked. Kyd gave Jericho a look that made Jericho want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

"I...I just heard a lot of confused and startled screaming. And...a squeal of excitement somewhere in there." Kyd answered, rubbing his temple again at the memory of so much painful noise flooding through his mind at once.

"Nevermind it, I think these gems are messing with my telepathy. Or...maybe it was whatever Scarecrow did to us. I seem to have regained small bits of my powers, at least. What about you?" Kyd asked, his hand still refusing to leave his pounding head. If that was what Jericho's mind felt like for just the few seconds Kyd had touched his wrist...Kyd shuddered at the thought of being prey to Jericho's 'taking over the mind' trick.

"...No. My powers are completely gone...sorry." Jericho said after a moment of trying to focus.

"Don't be, you didn't do this, that crazed psychopath did." Kyd said simply before walking down the path that led deeper into the cave.

"Well? Are you coming?" Kyd called, not even bothering to turn around.

Jericho let out another quietly startled sound once he realized Kyd was talking to him, scrambling for a moment before catching up to the taller villain.

After about fifteen minutes of walking in absolute silence in a cave that seemed to never end, Jericho quietly groaned to himself and rolled his eyes.

"You don't talk a lot, do you?" Jericho said, tilting his head toward the criminal.

"...Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you of all people to say?" Kyd said with ice in his tone, obviously not one for chatting up.

"Oh come on, I haven't had my voice in years - I want to use it before I lose it again!" Jericho chirped, not deterred in the slightest by the malice in Kyd's tone.

Kyd smiled a soft, barely seeable smile, his eyes amused at how different Jericho was from his teammates. He was naive, overly accepting, and much too trusting. It was going to get him hurt one day, Kyd knew. But Jericho's attitude was much too refreshing to ruin it so soon.

"Alright, then. What do you want to talk about, Jericho?" Kyd asked with a smile, he himself getting tired of counting steps.

"...Well, what's your favorite color crystal we've passed so far?" Jericho asked with a smile, leaning toward Kyd to invade his space just _that_ much more.

Kyd scoffed and let out a huffy laugh for a moment.

"What? Hey - I'm trying okay? There's not a lot to talk about in a spooky, 70s color schemed cave!" Jericho whined.

"Okay, okay. Well...do you like pu- ...Jericho?" Kyd suddenly stopped when he noticed that his small, bobby haired friend wasn't next to him.

Kyd turned around and saw Jericho almost frozen in place staring at a small room like indention in the wall.

Geez, this kid had the shortest attention span.

"...Jericho, we don't have time to sit and...and…" Kyd stopped as he saw what Jericho was looking at.

There was a tall blue crystal in the middle of the room, the size of a mirror. When Kyd looked into it, he didn't see his and Jericho's reflection...he saw his demon form.

Kyd had a guess that Jericho was seeing his own worst nightmare in front of him. The poor kid was shaking in the knees and trembling in the shoulders.

"Jeri- Ow!" Kyd said as he attempted to shake Jericho by the shoulder.

So much emotion. So much anguish and rage and hatred and...love…?

Kyd didn't know how long he'd be able to stand this kid, he just carried so many emotions around with him so openly that it physically hurt Kyd whenever he tried to touch him.

"Jericho! Snap out of it!" Kyd yelled in a demanding tone, finally getting Jericho to turn and look at him. Kyd felt horrible. He took a chance and rested a hand on Jericho's shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

A tsunami of mourning and grief and violent, aching sadness rushed through Kyd, enough to make him want to double over in pain. Before Kyd could jump back, Jericho rushed past him, hugging his arms and hunching away from Kyd.

"Please let's...let's just leave. Okay?" Jericho muttered, his once bouncy, lovely voice now downtrodden and hoarse as he walked further away from Kyd, not bothering to look back to see if he would follow.

There was so, so much more to this bouncy little mountain boy than he let on - or that the Titans knew of. Kyd knew trying to find out what it was would be the death of him - hell, even _touching_ the emotion heavy boy nearly sent him flying. Kyd didn't know why, but he felt like he had to know more. It pained him every time he got a taste of Jericho's thoughts and emotions flooding through his system - but everything about him so was alien, so different.

Maybe he'd just been so long without giving a fuck himself that it hurt to know someone else actually cared about the things that happened around them.

[I love them. So much. Tell me what you think of how I wrote empath Kyd. Read and Review please!]


	5. Enter: Dungeon

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I had so much fun writing this? I took a break so I could visit with my dad awhile, but I'm back! And just...graceful, eloquent, elegant Raven vs ...whatever Billy Numerous is is just so much fun to write.]

Raven wanted to cry. But, she was a descendant of Trigon, the princess of Azarath, so she wouldn't allow herself to.

"Where in tarnation did that crackerjack drop us?!" Raven heard Billy Numerous yell, the sound seeming to echo along the plane.

Raven really, really wanted to cry.

'Tarnation' wasn't even a word...was it?

Before Raven could go into a dissociation attack, she took notice to how when Billy's yells reached the sky, they seemed to bounce off - literally. A hexagonal shaped blue prism seemed to glow as the sound waves hit it, and the yell bounced back down toward them.

Raven couldn't say she was absolutely thrilled about who her partner was, though the scenery was nice. Raven felt like she were inside one of her storybooks.

The sky was a deep, murky chartreuse color...or perhaps it was emerald? There were scattered silver clouds, almost like wisps. Billy and Raven were sitting on a hard rock area - all purple and grey rocks - that sat like an island among deeper green water that Raven was sure was infested with dangerous water life. The water bubbled and boiled like brew. There was one bridge like landing that led them to what appeared to be a castle. The castle itself was dark purple and extremely ominous, to say the least. It was old, with vines hanging out of it and entire rooms seeming to have simply disappeared.

Raven sighed and turned around, again trying to force her way through the wall that she was sitting against. It was invisible, and it glowed with hexagons when she touched it just as the sky had.

"Alright hillbilly." Raven droned, standing up and finally halting Billy's incessant, slang filled yammering.

"We're going to have to work together to find a way out. I think this is a test of some sort- maybe we have to find something inside that castle to get out." Raven said, pointing her finger for Billy's eyes to follow.

"If we're going to do this, we're going to have to work together, whether you like it or not." Raven said with finality, fully prepared for any comeback or argument Billy had for her.

"...Oh. Okay." Billy said cheerily, shrugging his shoulders noncommitingly.

"...Okay?" Raven asked with confusion. This was a member of the HIVE Five, a hardened criminal that had been brainwashed to hate her and the Titans. Blood would murder the boy in cold blood were he here!

"Yep. Never really had no problem with the whole 'titan' thing. 'Specially not with yourself. You ain't all…" Billy rambled, stopping for a minute to think.

Billy then resorted to making a spiking motion at his head, mimicking Robin's haircut.

Raven cursed herself for letting out a half laugh.

"Well...alright. Just, uh, just...follow my lead, I guess." Raven said, already beginning to cross the long and thin stretch of rocky bridge to get to the castle.

"Lead the way ma'am!" Billy chirped, following Raven closely behind.

Raven didn't understand. Billy was many things, but he wasn't a gentleman! He was a criminal, a neanderthal!

Raven sighed in exasperation when they finally made it across, half expecting Billy to be gone when she turned around to look for him. He was very quiet during that treck, and she had a bad feeling about trusting him at all.

"...Why'd ya hate me so much?" Billy asked through his accent as Raven began pushing against the wooden doors of the castle.

"...Excuse me?" Raven asked, still exasperated.

"Well...I ain't really _done_ nothing to make ya hate me, have I?" Billy said.

Raven...thought on that. She and Billy never fought- she was normally paired up against Kyd Wykkyd because of their similar fighting abilities. Out of all of the Titans, Billy never called her out or insulted her, normally just outright ignoring her through battles.

"...Why _don't_ you hate me? We're enemies, aren't we?" Raven said with a glare.

"...Well, y'see, that there's where you an' I differ, little lady." Billy said, leaning down to emphasize his jest against her height.

"I don't take villaining as serious as you take hero-ing. I'm more of a...asset relocation specialist, than a thief." Billy said, stepping up to the wooden doors and examining them, attempting to help Raven open them.

"...Honestly, I'm very surprised you know that many big words, Numerous." Raven bit, knowing it would be much easier to say enemies through this.

"Yeah, I get that kinda shit a lot." Billy said darkly. He immediately perked back up, smiling apologetically at Raven. "Not that I blame ya, people tend to make that assumption about me a lot."

So maybe Billy was afraid of her? Was that it? It was extremely likely.

"I just...I'm not in it for the money, y'know? I don't know where you're from, but I'm from Underbridge, Alabama. Ya know who comes from Underbridge? Nobody. Not nada, zip, zilch. Everybody is just...there, y'know? I don't wanna be like that. I'm a villain cause I don't want nobody to just...forget me." Billy said. Raven was honestly surprised he'd let out this much information so loosely. Whether he was over sincere or just plain out stupid, she couldn't really tell.

"But," Billy said with a winning smile, "Whether I'm a cowboy or a robber, I'm sure as hell gonna be remembered."

After his little speech, Billy ran against the door and pushed all of his weight against it, the door swinging open with an ominous noise and revealing a courtroom with a maze like number of doors leading out of it.

"...Well…" It wouldn't kill Raven to try and be nicer to the hillbilly, would it? "...How do you feel about being a knight for a while?" Raven offered, handing Billy a sword she'd found on the ground and grabbing herself a nice looking dagger. She knew her powers didn't work anymore, but she had a feeling this little vacation would be a lot more dangerous than she'd like.

Something that growled and stomped in the darkness agreed.

[Short, yes. Also, I know how many grammar mistakes there are, it's purposeful. By the way, I run all of my chapters through a program to help me proofread, and the program glitched nine times. That's how bad Billy's speech is. Wow. Read and Review please!]


	6. Enter: Circus

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I love Mammoth and Starfire so much. I wish I had more excuses to write for them. Until then, have this. I don't write for Starfire often, so please forgive my bad writing.]

Starfire didn't get scared by very much growing up the way she did. But now, now she was fucking terrified. On Earth, Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran had found nothing she couldn't break, bend, or shatter. Earth was different from Tamaran. Earth was sensitive and weak - though filled to the brim with wonders and creation. All around her, she was always able to come out on top. But now she was met with the fact that she couldn't fly, she couldn't force her way out of the silver crate she found herself trapped in, and her starbolts were gone as well.

Starfire of Tamaran found herself hiccuping slightly as she cried angry tears, again attempting to force her way out of the small, cramped crate that had her bent in a strange fetal position, refusing to just give up.

"...S...S-Starfire?" She heard a grumbly voice call out, just as terrified as she felt.

"...Enemy Mammoth?" Starfire called back, smiling through her sniffling.

"Uh...can we not refer to me as 'enemy Mammoth' right now? Powers or not, you still kinda terrify me." Mammoth admitted, trying to lean closer to the half of the steel trap where he could hear Starfire's voice coming through. Mammoth let out a small smile at the giggle he earned.

"Well, thank you, I suppose." Starfire replied.

"...So, any ideas out of this steel?" Mammoth asked after a huff, feeling small and pretzeled in his trap, having to hunch over where he was sat, his hands holding his knees just to fit uncramped.

"I am afraid not. Your powers are not working either?" Starfire asked sadly.

"Nope. I was hoping mine would be fine since they're more physical than all of yours, but I think that Scarecrow guy put some kinda dampener on me, made me weaker somehow." Mammoth said through his grumbly voice, pouting like a child as he sadly looked down at himself.

"I swear on everything when I find that skinny, straw stuffed creep I'm gonna-" Mammoth started up.

"Do not use the angry tone, Mammoth!" Starfire yelled worriedly. Mammoth winced at how her high pitched voice echoed through the steel and gave him a near migraine.

"Well, it's...it's how I let out how I feel! What do _you_ think I should do?" Mammoth said in a child's manner. If Starfire could've seen him he would've stuck his tongue out. Personally, he blamed too much interaction with Gizmo.

"...I used to have the 'anger problem' as well, Mammoth." Starfire admitted, thinking back to her first day on Earth and how she almost destroyed an entire city in hostility. Mammoth bit back his near natural response of 'I don't have anger problems' to instead opt for the idea of _Starfire_ of all people getting _angry_.

"I don't believe it." Mammoth said.

"You do not?" Starfire asked him, bewildered.

"Nope, no way. You're way too nice and shit." Mammoth said with slight fondness in his voice that he kicked himself for letting out. Starfire, however, took this as an insult.

"I flipped a motor vehicle several yards into the air before kicking it at my leader, Robin, all with my hands bound by an alien slave device." Starfire stated.

"...Oh." Mammoth said, at a loss with himself. Now that he thought about it, Starfire was an alien, right? She was probably pretty scary when she was mad.

"... _Slave_?" Mammoth echoed, suddenly feeling his anger roar back. Who would dare use someone as kind as _Starfire_ as a _slave_? That was wrong! The mere thought made his blood boil.

"...Yes. You do not know of my life before the Teen Titans, Mammoth." Starfire said in an almost empty voice.

Mammoth squirmed around some, getting comfy and letting Starfire know that he was listening.

"...I am from a planet called Tamaran. It is beautiful, yes, but it is most dangerous. Creatures run amok everywhere, and if you do not learn to fight, you die at a very young age. Many of my brothers and sisters have died before they have even made it to five or'kas. The only sister I have left is Koma, and she wished me dead. To be fair, she is not even in relation to me- she is what you Earthlings have called a 'half-sibling'. I have not seen my little brother in years, and I can only imagine what he thinks of me now." Starfire explained with hurt in her eyes.

"Tamaranean powers are controlled by emotion. From a young age, Tamaranean children are taught that the dominant emotion is rage, sometimes anguish. We are raised to be brutal warriors, conquering all we see and leaving nothing left. As a child, I was ruthless and cruel to any enemies, and I was nowhere near the 'nice' person that you see now." Starfire continued.

"...When I hit seventeen or'kas, my father sold me away as a slave to an infiltrating race, the Gordanians. They were strong and smart, and none of our warriors could stop them. The only way they could be appeased was if their leader could take his pick of slaves from our land. I was one of them. I understood that it was my duty as princess of Tamaran, though I did not enjoy it." Mammoth tried not to interrupt upon realizing that Starfire was a damn _princess_. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't all that surprising.

Starfire started smiling brightly at her next part.

"It was not until I met the Teen Titans that I learned the value of 'niceness' and of having friends. Now, though I could obliterate and severely damage my foes, I've learned to power myself through passion for my friends, for my loved ones. I've learned that forgiveness and friendliness are stronger than violence and rage." Starfire ended, smiling.

"...Huh...no shit?" Mammoth said.

"...Indeed. None of the...shit." Starfire replied.

Mammoth gave a hearty laugh at Starfire's attempt.

Suddenly, both of their steel cages were being rattled around.

"What is happening?" Starfire cried as the crates was being lifted and thrown around, bruising her knees as they hit the steel.

"I-I don't know!" Mammoths yelled, equally as terrified.

After a few minutes too long of rocking around in the steel cages, the two were violently ripped out of the boxes by strange creatures seemingly made out of electrified black rock. They were all speaking in strange tongues that neither Starfire nor Mammoth could understand. Starfire could understand only one word.

"Slave!" They kept shouting in between words at each other before interlocking Starfire's wrists together with strange technology. They spoke in Tamaranean, but Starfire couldn't realize among her terrified, desperate screaming to get away.

"Starfire!" Mammoth cried out before a dark black wall was shut in between the two, blocking off his sight of Starfire being dragged away and shocked with electric energy whenever she tries to run off course.

[At least this is longer than the last one, right? Read and Review please!]


	7. Fortnight: Bay

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I am on a roll today- oh wow. I'm having so much fun diving back into this story. I love switching the characters and building the worlds, it's so much fun! What I'm planning to do now is go in a pattern to follow their adventures. But at least we have the introduction out of the way.]

Kid Flash stared deep into the makeshift fire he and See-More had made in their living quarters. After exploration, they found that they had been dropped in some post-apocalypse like area. Every building was terribly damaged beyond repair, vines hanging from the windows and bricks scattered about.

Kid Flash sighed at how useless he felt as he glanced over a See-More, who was mapping out where everything was to try and find a way out.

See-More was the one that had built them a fire, See-More was the one that had found them the only barely destroyed building where they were now, See-More was the one that had found them still somehow edible food in the stark laboratory building across from where they were.

Without his speed, Wally really was useless.

He laid back with a sigh, opting instead to just close his eyes and think about everything.

After some travel into the area, they'd discovered the place they landed was stark and bleak - no life for miles from what they could tell. Everything was abandoned, and most times, they could barely see more than a few yards in front of their faces due to a thick, smoky fog. The building they'd taken refuge in was previously a skyscraper, and See-More had reasoned it was the best spot to camp not only because of the only partially damaged state, but because it was the tallest for miles - they could easily find their way back. It had no floors, and they were sleeping on raw dirt, but the side where the wind and weathers seemed to be coming from was completely intact. The only reason they'd even traveled inland was because they'd come across an invisible wall of sorts. It barely let them through even a few yards from where they'd swam ashore before it made a humming noise paired with a hexagonal shaped blue mark that wouldn't allow them passage. See-More's comm had been blinking for hours - was still blinking - but no Wykkyd. No Wykkyd, no Jinx, no Mammoth, no Gizmo, no Billy.

Kid Flash kind of felt like an asshole.

All this time he was a real jerk to See-More. During his fights with the HIVE, he often like to point out the young boy, making fun of his figure, his voice, his height. Anything to throw him off his game like he did the others. He outright insulted See-More's closest friends when they'd gotten to shore, and he went so far as to completely destroy his home during his first siege against the HIVE Five's base.

And yet…

Here See-More was, helping Wally survive. Here See-More was, offering Wally half of all of the food he found, offering him shelter, offering him forgiveness for all the stupid shit he'd done. If it weren't for See-More, Wally would be dead by now. Wally can't find shelter, he doesn't have all this survival training that See-More seems to.

But he can't dare bring himself to apologize. He doesn't know why, maybe it's a masculinity thing, or a hero vs villain thing, but Kid Flash wants to apologize so bad, but it feels wrong to apologize to See-More. Maybe because inevitably, See-More deserves everything for his crimes. Maybe because See-More caused a fair amount of annoyance with the HIVE when they went on heists.

But Wally probably owed See-More his life, and he couldn't bring himself to even say he was sorry. How useless is that?

Wally's thoughts and inevitable stress lines were interrupted by the sound of hissing.

Kid Flash jumped nearly three feet in the air for a moment with a loud and panicked yelp, convinced that in their bleak and lifeless home a snake had slithered in unnoticed.

Wally then heard a chuckle and immediately wanted to sink into the ground from embarrassment. The hiss was not a snake, but a spray can that See-More held in his hands. See-More was also staring at Wally amusedly, trying not to laugh at the girlish shriek he had let out.

Eventually See-More revealed that the spray can bottle was actually spray _paint_ , as he colored up and down on the walls.

Wally slowly walked over to him, _slow_ , though it disoriented him not to be able to speed over.

"...You paint a lot?" Kid Flash asked, trying hard to break the ice between them and continue to distract himself from his own thoughts.

See-More let out a hum of agreement.

Kid Flash resigned to just sitting down cross legged a little ways away from See-More, giving the brown boy his space as he brought out nine other spray cans that See-More had found hidden behind rubble in the building.

Wally, for once, shut up. He shut up and he focused on the lines, on the color contrast and the science behind the art that See-More was making. Honestly, Wally couldn't help it. He'd grown up a nerd, and secretly, he'd always be a nerd. He had to make sense of everything he saw. It's one of the things that always intrigued him about art. You _couldn't_ make sense of everything in art. Sure, there were color schemes and implied lines and whatnot, but you couldn't just... _explain_ the emotion and the feeling behind so many great artworks.

Kid Flash got lost in the strokes and the drips of the paint until he wasn't even focused on the finished product anymore. Wally stared at the wall until the painting didn't even look like a painting, only formulas and guesses as to how See-More thought, what thought process he went through to _know_ he needed to put _that_ line right _there_. The buzzing of his head when he decided _no, that's not the color I need, this second color is right._ The colors dripped and deformed and morphed together in different areas, they contrasted and split apart in others, until Wally found himself looking at See-More through this painting. What did that color _mean_ to See-More? Why did See-More put a circle in _that_ position? What made See-More _make_ one live wavy, and the others board straight? How did this curious boy think? Why did he think the way he did? Why did _Wally_ think the way he did? How did they collide, contrast, mix like the colors he was staring at? Why- Why- WHY-

"Done." That one word finally broke Wally from his loud mind. Kid Flash had to shake his head to wake himself up. He backed out and away, away from the formulas and the worries and the questions, and he found himself gasping at the beautiful painting that See-More had left on the building, hopefully permanent.

He'd painting two flip side silhouettes of a boy. One on top, showed a boy colored in pinks and yellows and oranges, black tears dripping like oil from his eyes and spilling through his hands that tried desperately to catch it. It was only a silhouette, and all you could see clearly was the outline of everything, but Wally could _see_ the boy. Like looking through a mirror cut through his stomach, the same silhouette hung upside down of the boy, but in all inky black, still crying tears, though the tears were colored a pink, yellow, orange, just like the above boy's skin. The colors came together to make a dripping pattern rather than a straight mirror line when the two boys met, the boys fading into each other and colliding together.

"...S-See-More this is...beautiful…!" Wally gasped as he stood up and walked closer to get another look.

"Uh...thanks." See-More said awkwardly, desperate to get out of the way of attention.

"...Hey," Kid Flash called as See-More went to sit by their fire again. "How do you...I mean...what- how do you know all this stuff? About the survival and then the paint and the mapping and...yeah…?" Wally asked oh-so-eloquently.

"...Was raised on the streets." See-More said clipped and quiet, obviously not wanting to go into detail.

And _just_ as Wally broke the ice, he built himself up another wall of iceberg.

"Th...Thank you. For everything. I uh…I don't think I would've made it past the peer, if it weren't for you." Wally said stiffly, sitting across from See-More but staring still into the same fire.

See-More gave Kid Flash a funny look for a moment, scaring the wits out of the poor redhead.

"...Yeah...no problem." See-More said. No one had ever _thanked_ See-More for anything he'd ever done. Especially not a hero.

It felt nice.

[I stopped it kind of suddenly, I know. I didn't know how else to stop it. I had SO MUCH FUN diving into Wally's nerdy head. I think a lot of people forget that his speed came from his nerdiness, recreating his uncle's accident and all. Read and Review!]


	8. Fortnight: Maze

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. This is...mainly dialogue. I also got a chance to dive into Jinx's brain, which was just as fun!]

Robin and Jinx sat back to back on a blue steel wall, surrounded by nothing but empty space and the chilling cold of the dimension they were trapped in. Jinx's hair was messy and matted because of her rummaging through it out of anxiety, and Robin looked at least three years older because of his constant worry over his team.

"We...we really fucked up, didn't we?" Jinx muttered quietly, her voice echoing and making her shiver against the cold steel.

"...Yeah, yeah we did." Robin answered, too tired to remain positive anymore.

They'd walked for hours on end through the maze with no track of time - no way of knowing if it was day or night. Robin thought that using his detective mind could help them through the maze, but the maze kept rebuilding itself. It would erupt with walls as soon as the pair passed a certain point, shaking the ground and sending tremors of fear through both Jinx and Robin's hearts.

Robin had finally met with a puzzle he simply couldn't solve.

So, they decided to camp for the night.

They had no resources, no way of keeping warm. They couldn't even turn around to look at each other and just talk. Instead, they were resigned to speaking through the steel walls that kept them separate.

Jinx hated being alone.

Even though she knew Robin was right on the other side of the wall from her, she felt so, so alone.

It's the only reason she'd even joined the academy in the first place. She had nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to - she was completely and utterly alone and she hated it. At least in the academy she had Gizmo and Mammoth, and then outside of the academy she had See-More, Billy, and Wykkyd.

Poor, poor Wykkyd.

He'd never tell anyone, no one but her, but Wykkyd hated the dark. She'd assumed the other dimensions looked like this, and if so, Kyd was miserable.

He often recollected to Jinx about all the terrible, horrible things that happened to him as a child - all in the dark.

In the dark, no one could hear you, no one could see you, no one could save you-

"Jinx." Robin said sadly, in a voice half expecting her to completely ignore him.

"...Yeah?" Jinx asked, turning her head a bit to acknowledge him, though she knew he couldn't see it.

"...What's your favorite movie?" Robin asked, looking up at the sky that was now glittering with stars somehow.

"...Excuse me?" Jinx asked, laughing a bit.

"Humor me, will you? I'm tired and I don't feel like listening to my own head anymore. It's too loud to...just...can't we just talk? Like...I mean-" Robin offered.

"Like teenagers?" Jinx finished.

There was a long moment of silence shared between them. It'd been too long since Jinx acted her age, and the same went for Robin.

Jinx was always the mature one, the safe one, the confident one - she didn't have time for boys or sleepovers or makeup or movies.

"...The Craft, the one by Andrew Flemming - came out in 1996." Jinx said, smiling a bit at the memory of watching it with her friends and watching them squirm.

"Yeah? Well... _besides_ Star Trek-" Robin said, scratching his neck in embarrassment at the memory of Jinx finding out about that secret. "...I like Mad Max. All of them, honestly." Robin confessed.

" _You_ like _Mad Max_? No way, I don't believe it." Jinx said in a challenging voice.

"I mean, I expect that from Johnny Rancid, Punk Rocket maybe, but _you_? Didn't you get in a motorcycle crash with Johnny that one-"

"Alright, alright, already! Subject change!" Robin yelled desperately, ignoring the crack in his voice.

"Okay...favorite band? Favorite band that isn't pump up hero music, I mean." Jinx said, smirking as she could feel Robin roll his eyes.

"Promise you won't laugh?" Robin asked with a smile.

"Hm...no." Jinx confessed, smiling on her own as well.

"...I really like Three Days Grace." Robin confessed.

"No way!" Jinx gasped.

"Favorite song- 123go-!" Jinx called rapidly.

"Time of Dying!" They both called out at the same time.

"...huh." Jinx said to herself.

After a moment of silence, Jinx and Robin both felt like dying again.

"...What else do teenagers talk about?" Jinx asked, at a loss with herself.

"I don't know-...crushes?" Robin offered. Jinx let out a hard, loud laugh.

"No, no, no no, no. You are _not_ ready for that conversation with me, Sparrow." Jinx said with a roll of her eyes.

"What? What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Robin said in mock hurt.

"Look, I've got to listen to a good friend of mine drone _on_ and _on_ and _on_ about how _in love_ he is with you, about how _cool_ you are, about how you'll _never_ notice him- this is the one night I get to spend not talking about your love life." Jinx said with another, more exaggerated roll of her eyes.

"Wait, what?" Robin said in surprise.

"...Robin?" Jinx said in a hollow voice.

"Um...yeah?" Robin answered.

"...You get me back home to my family, and I'll spill the beans, I promise." Jinx said with a smirk, knowing for a fact that sentence would ensure no sleep at all for Robin that night.

[I like experimenting with how they would interact on a not-enemies basis. Read and Review!]


	9. Fortnight: Jungle

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I had fun messing with Gizmo's backstory in this one! Hope you enjoy.]

There were a lot of sounds in the jungle - it almost reminded Gizmo of home, with Jinx and the rest of the HIVE. There was the constant humming and buzzing of foreign insects that played like background radio, accompanied by the swaying of jungle leaves and the howl and growls of predators.

The sun was starting to set in their strange new home, and Gizmo tried to focus on the sound of Wonder Girl's rustling of leaves instead of the awakening howls of just awakening nocturnal predators. The setting sun cast a purplish glow across the mucus green shrubbery and leaves of the jungle, and the sky was deepened with a dark purplish melding into red color. It was beautiful, but it didn't help Gizmo think of anything other than the predators lying in wait for that last drop of color to finally leave the sky.

"Done!" Wonder Girl shouted louder than Gizmo felt was necessary. He was still very much on edge about everything in the jungle, especially since next to none of his tech was working.

Gizmo turned around to see that Wonder Girl had built them a shelter of some kind. It was made entirely out of leaves and branches, and it formed a small sort of tent for them to sleep under.

"Well?" Wonder Girl said, gesturing for Gizmo to crawl inside the pillow fort shaped hut.

Gizmo crawled inside with a sigh, tired of everything. He plopped down to his own little spot to a corner of the hut, though it wasn't exactly big enough for there to be a lot of space between him and Wonder Girl anyway.

Gizmo was tired; he was tired of everything. He was tired of being musty and sweaty from the blistering heat of the jungle, he was tired of this feeling of helplessness - of not being able to know where his friends are and how to help them, and he was especially tired of not having his friends with him. Gizmo claimed and fought tooth and nail that he hated his friends, but they were all he had left. They were the only ones that saw that he was more than just some little kid.

"Are you alright?" Wonder Girl asked, breaking Gizmo from his thought process.

"...I'm fine." Gizmo said in a final voice. Wonder Girl started to get blurry...and he realized he was crying.

No wonder everyone treated him like a stupid little kid, here he was being a crybaby and in front of a superhero!

Gizmo prepared for insults, or maybe yelling, something he could fight. But Wonder Girl didn't do anything like that, instead, Gizmo felt the tall girl pull him into her arms and actually hug him.

Gizmo found that he didn't have the strength or care to fight back and make a scene, sniffling quietly into her shoulder.

They went through an entire fifteen minutes or more of dead silence, the only sound being Gizmo's babyish sniffling. In that time, Gizmo looked up to see that it was finally pitch black outside, and the only source of light they had was the strange, ethereal glowing from Wonder Girl's whip. Wonder Girl sighed before she reached over and brought the whip to lay in between them, giving off light as Gizmo obviously wanted.

"...Gizmo, why do you stay with your friends?" Wonder Girl asked. It made no sense to her. Of course Gizmo was a genius and he was leagues above any other child his age, but above all, he was still a child. What could've driven him to a life of crime _so_ early in his youth, what's more, what drives him to stay there?

"...I had a mom once. I...I never really knew my dad, just that he didn't get along with my mom and they didn't live together. She was...she was so, so pretty." Gizmo said with a distant look not befitting a child.

"She had golden hair that was always fluffy and bright, and when she smiled it just...it made everything better. And she had that kind of voice...when she said things would get better, I believed her, y'know? We didn't have a great life, but it wasn't terrible either, because we had each other. I never had the clothes or the toys the other kids did, but I had my mom. There was always only one of her." Gizmo said.

"...She kept...getting older. It was too much...to take care of me, to feed me while we were on the streets and to keep clothes on both of us. One day...this weird old man came up to her, and told her he could make it all better. I never liked him, but mom did." Gizmo said, his voice slowly getting quiet and sad.

"...He told her all she had to do was give me to him and promise that she wouldn't ever come in contact with me again. But...I didn't…I never wanted to go with him, but my mom loved me and wanted a life for me more than she wanted to be able to be apart of my life. She...she ran away, she left me with the old man, and she never came back." Gizmo said among sniffles and sobs.

"...Who was the old man, Gizmo?" Donna asked, more angry than she thought she should be.

"...Brother B-Blood." Gizmo replied, sobbing into his arm.

"My mom is gone...Blood made sure I wouldn't ever be able to find her again, and she still thinks Blood took me and gave me a good life so...she doesn't want to find me." Gizmo explained.

"The HIVE's all I have left. They're my family, they mean so much to me and I-I can't...I can't l-lose them like I lost h-her!" Gizmo stuttered.

Wonder Girl, almost on instinct, picked Gizmo up and starting trying to shush him, letting him cry into her shoulder again.

"...I...I've got a sister, Jinx...and...and a _whole_ lot of o-older brothers…" Gizmo said with a smile, trying to cheer himself up and getting a small laugh out of Wonder Girl.

"...But I'll never have a mommy again. I can't...I won't lose another member of my family." Gizmo said.

"...I'm sorry, Gizmo. I'm so, so sorry." Wonder Girl said, laying down and holding Gizmo so that he could still cry if he needed to, but could also fall asleep once he got too tired.

"...Have you ever told your team any of this?" Wonder Girl asked, concerned for Gizmo's mental health. It can't be anywhere near healthy for a ten year old to go through something like this on their own.

"...No." Gizmo said, getting a frustrated sigh from Donna in return.

Donna softly wondered how Gizmo would feel about having _two_ big sisters before she fell asleep, determined to protect the small child in her care.

Diana failed Donna. She failed her and Donna paid the price nearly her entire life. She wouldn't allow the same to happen to Gizmo, even if that meant becoming the big sister herself.

[Read and Review please!]


	10. Fortnight: Darkness

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentions in this story. I had. So much fun writing this. I love overemotional Joey vs emotionally dead Kyd. Also, I didn't make it clear in the last chapter but Kyd is NOT a Telepath, he is an Empath. Instead of thoughts, he can feel emotions.]

Jericho scrambled wipe some weird green moss that had formed on his finger off. Despite Kyd's incessant nagging that it was a horrible, terrible idea to touch every crystal and find out it's properties simply out of curiosity, Jericho was prone to do so anyway. So, while Kyd was busy attempting to start a fire of some sort in their makeshift camping area they'd found, Jericho snuck off to touch as many of the crystals as he could, completely ignoring Kyd's advice.

He'd found that the green crystals left a sort of sticky moss on your hand when touched for more than three seconds, and they were also very squishy and gelatinous once removed from their place in the wall. The pink crystals were very dusty and almost glittery, letting off dust specks of what looked like glitter glue when you hit it against something (Jericho had learned this the hard way, and wasted almost fifteen minutes of his adventure-time trying to shake off the glitter that made him look like Tinkerbell's twin brother).

Joseph suddenly yawned, finding that he was starting to grow a bit tired from all the excitement from today. Joey finally managed to wipe off the last bits of the green crystal's moss on the wall and started making his way back to Kyd tiredly.

Joey gasped at the beautifully colored light purple fire that Kyd had created. Kyd Wykkyd himself was nowhere to be found, but Joey was much too distracted by the components of this new fire. It was almost see-through, and instead of wood, two reddish orange crystals lay at the fire's feet, seeming to feed its flames.

"...Beautiful, isn't it?" Joey suddenly heard Kyd's voice say from behind him, making the poor blonde shriek in surprise. Kyd didn't seem to take notice, too invested in gazing distantly into the purple fire.

Joey _would've_ been doing the same...had Kyd not looked...like _that_.

"Please excuse me, the top half of my suit was torn by one of the crystals when we were first walking through here, and the elbows were scraped when we fell into this dimension the first time." Kyd explained as he walked past Joey - still shirtless, as Joey tried not to hyperventilate - and sat down not too far from him next to the fire.

Somewhere, deep in Joey's mind, there was a small, innocent voice that told him that staring was impolite and rude, but it was shoved back into the abyss of Joey's thoughts by a stronger, more forceful voice that wouldn't let him pull his eyes away.

Kyd was...not as wimpy as Joey had previously thought. He was definitely nowhere near as strong as Joey himself was - being a regular Titan and having lived on a mountain for several years - but he was... _toned_. Was it normal for your train of thought to have voice cracks? Joey didn't think so. Perhaps he should be worried. Of course, he wasn't. He was too busy tracing the strange black lining that ran up and down Kyd's skin. It was almost like the lines on a tiger's back, except more tattoo like. From where the middle of Kyd's spine was, his skin was colored a deep purple that slowly faded back into stark paleness as it got closer to his front. It was like looking at a spray painted guitar, until you got to his front and saw that his entire chest and stomach were pale white besides the black lines.

"It's not polite to _stare_." Kyd practically growled at Jericho. Jericho was ripped from his thoughts and honestly startled by his tone - considering Kyd had been nothing short of a gentleman their entire time together, it was strange to hear him near _growling_ at Joseph.

Joseph looked up at Kyd's face to see him angrily glaring into the fire. When he finally looked up to glare at Joseph, his glare softened immensely at Joey's face. He looked...innocently confused.

"...I'm not... _proud_ of the black marks, okay?" Kyd explained.

"I was just staring at your chest." Jericho blurted bluntly.

Deathly, heavy silence followed.

In Jericho's mind, he wanted to curl up and die. On the outside, his face was blood red and his eyes were blown wide, lips in a thin line as he mentally screamed. He forgot that people with voices are supposed to have _filters_ as well.

Suddenly, Elliot's surprised stare turned into...laughter.

Real, genuine, bouncy but deep laughter that echoed off the walls for a while. It relaxed Joey, at least. He nervously laughed alone and let his shoulders loosen a bit.

"...You're a strange person." Kyd stated with a glint in his eyes and a charming smile adorning his lips.

"...Y-Yeah I uh...I kinda get that a lot." Jericho said with a nervous smile, thankful Kyd hadn't made it awkward.

"So…" Jericho said, trying extremely hard to change the subject, "how did you get the fire to start up?" He asked with a smile.

"Well- I found these two reddish orange crystals back that way somewhere and decided to start with those. When I rubbed them together, they broke open, but somehow the fire come out purple and-" Kyd rambled with a large smile. Jericho couldn't help but find it really, _really_ cute how Kyd Wykkyd was secretly a huge nerd about this kind of stuff.

"Uh...s-sorry." Kyd said, looking down in embarrassment once he realized how nerdy he sounded. Jericho noticed that as Kyd's face blushed, some very thin black markings on his lower jaw darkened to a deep purple as well, as if they were blushing. They would normally be covered up by Kyd's cowl, though they...suited him somehow.

"Where did you get that?" Joey asked innocently enough as he pointed to what looked like a deep cut on Elliot's chin, right below his lips and to the right some.

"Oh. When I was pulling these crystals out of the wall, one of them was stuck, and because of the force I used to pull it out, its scraped my chin upon exiting the wall." Kyd answered in his ever so eloquent voice.

"Oh." Joey echoed, not knowing what else to say. He didn't want to get caught staring again.

"I think I have something that could fix it." Joey said suddenly before bolting up toward the crystals he was playing with examining earlier.

Joey trodded back with a pretty blueish white crystal in hand, slowly approaching Kyd and sitting next to him.

"I was messing with the crystals earlier, and this one seems to heal cuts. It fixed the one you gave me earlier on the cliffs." Joey said.

"It...might be a little cold." Joey warned as he started to reach with the crystal toward Kyd's chin. Kyd gave a stiff nod, allowing Joey into his personal space.

Kyd closed his eyes and allowed Joey to softly rub the crystal up and down his cut, knowing it may take a bit for the crystal to complete its task.

Kyd could practically hear Joey's heartbeat himself because of his enhanced hearing. Was the boy really _that_ _afraid_ of him?

"You...can keep me still if you want." Kyd muttered. He knew giving Joey permission to touch him would probably result in another wave of emotions like a bullet to the head, but he had to know what Joey was feeling. He hated not knowing, especially when their lives rested in Joey not being afraid to trust Kyd.

Kyd kept his eyes closed when he felt Jericho's considerably soft hand cradle his cheek, keeping him still.

Kyd was hit with emotions, but it was nothing like before. Kyd had braced himself for terror, worry, anxiety, fear, but nothing like this.

As an empath, whenever someone touched Kyd, he could feel their emotions, and go what they were going through.

Kyd felt what Joey was feeling. He felt...he felt wonderful and terrible at the same time. He felt safe and warm and nervous and like he had butterflies in his stomach. He felt like he had a fever and yet he had shivers going up his spine. He felt like...whoever, whatever Joey's emotions were directed on, he wanted to worship forever. His breathing was shallow and stuttery, like he was afraid of scaring them off, like if they left he'd honestly start to cry. He felt pinpricks on his arms and face and he felt his heart pound in his ears and he felt hopeful feelings cloud his mind.

Kyd closed his eyes tighter and attempting to access a higher part of his abilities, trying so hard to recollect what Scarecrow had taken. He closed his eyes and concentrated and...yes. Now he could feel what Jericho was thinking as well. Jericho felt terrified and yet absolute and confident in his thoughts. Kyd thought was Jericho thought.

Kyd wanted to love this person to their very core, until there was no love left that he could give away and then some. Kyd wanted hug this person and memorize what it felt like to have their arms wrapped around him. Kyd wanted to know what it felt like to be protected and safe and warm in those arms. Kyd wanted to kiss that person, god, Kyd wanted to kiss that person so, so badly. He wanted to kiss them enough to leave a lasting aftertaste of their lips. He wanted to hold their hand and caress their knuckles, Kyd wanted to lay down with them and talk about everything and nothing for hours. Kyd desperately wanted them to just...say something. He wanted to hear this person's voice so badly.

Kyd opened his eyes and tried to stop breathing so heavily, he was getting too caught up in Jericho's emotions - again. It was so...thrilling, though. But Kyd still didn't get an answer to his question. Kyd understood now what Jericho was feeling, love, but for whom? There was no one to focus on in this cavern.

Elliot let out a small gasp that Jericho didn't hear as he looked down at how Jericho was staring into Kyd's cut. Jericho was focusing on _Kyd_. Jericho was...in _love_ with-

Kyd's own thoughts broke away like string as Jericho subconsciously moved his hand down to Kyd's chest, over his heart. As Jericho's emotions changed, Kyd felt them.

A deep, calming, slow warmth moved all throughout Kyd and calmed him. He felt...so, so in love. But now he felt...closer, calmer. He was so happy this person let him get this close. Kyd felt like he could melt in this person's arms right about now. Kyd felt like he could sit here in this position until the end of time and he wouldn't have a qualm. Kyd once again felt Jericho's thoughts. Kyd hated himself for staying quiet. He berated himself for not speaking up, for not just telling this person how in love he was. But how could he? Kyd told himself that he was so bad with words, even now.

Jericho thought all that...for Kyd. Jericho was in love with...Kyd. Kyd suddenly couldn't breathe, couldn't think, Jericho's emotions were drowning him-

"Are you okay?" Came Jericho's voice. It broke above the emotion, and Jericho pulled back his hand. Kyd's face was a deep, dangerous red color, and Kyd's expression said that he'd just looked into the face of god.

"You look sick, did I hurt you?" Jericho asked worriedly, already switching through his own emotions so very fast.

Jericho started reaching over to touch Kyd's forehead, trying to see if he possibly had a fever, but Kyd caught his wrist in a near death grip before he made it so far.

"F-F-F-FFFFine." Kyd stuttered as he gasped to regain his breath. Jericho was starting to get worried, he'd never heard Kyd stutter before, there had to be something seriously wrong. But Kyd had made it very clear he didn't want Jericho anywhere near him right now, so Joey took the hint, though a bit hurt.

Joey receded, standing up and going back over to his place a small bit away from the fire.

Kyd held his head in his hands, not knowing what to do anymore. Joey was gone, but his emotions weren't - but that didn't make any sense.

And then Kyd realized they were his own emotions.

Kyd Wykkyd...was in love.

Kyd was going to pummel Scarecrow when they found him.

[Read and Review please!]


	11. Fortnight: Dungeon

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentions in this story. Me? Updating a fic? I'm back. I hated writing this chapter so much, I'm so bad at writing Billy. Take it anyway, I guess.]

It felt like they'd been climbing forever. After making it through the main hall of the castle, Billy and Raven had trecked for hours and hours among the maze like castle. It was obviously not in an Earthen dimension, or so Raven had guessed. Nothing here made much of any sense, it was like they were walking through Limbo. When they entered some rooms, gravity was completely gone, and there were objects just floating about. In other rooms, the walls themselves seemed to nearly growl at them for entering.

One thing remained the same however - it was eerily dormant. Not a soul breathed in the castle. There were skeletons and mummified corpses scattered about the rooms, of course, but no real life. It made Raven more than uneasy.

For once, she was almost thankful she had Billy Numerous to accompany her.

Because of Billy's constant and nonstop chatter, Raven didn't really have much time to think about the situation they were in. Everytime Raven felt that familiar drop in her heart at a skeleton, Billy beat her to the panic attack.

Billy was so... _weird_. Hypocritical, Raven knew, but she just couldn't wrap her head around him.

Raven was glad they'd at least found a safe place to sleep for the night.

Among the many less than safe rooms, they'd finally found a comfortable - albeit creepy - room to rest in for the night before they continued their journey through the castle tomorrow.

The room wasn't very large, about the size of a safe house big enough for one person. It was dark, and the brick walls were musty and dust covered. They'd managed to make a small fire inside the room, granting them enough light to see if any attackers were coming. When they'd first entered the room, Raven was terrified. In the middle of the room sat the skeleton of a man sitting on a throne chair, crown still lopsided on his tilted head, surrounded by now empty and broken bottles of what she supposed was wine.

Before she could storm away from the room, demanding they find somewhere else, Raven looked in to see Billy sticking his hand into the backside of the skeleton's skull, using it like a hand puppet to tell Raven skeleton puns. She didn't laugh - none of his puns were very good - but the joking did help her settle down enough to accept that they had to sleep here for the night.

So here Raven was, sleeping in her weird cot-like bed they'd scavenged and staring down Billy's slumbering face as if it would unravel before her. Raven hated not understanding things - she always had. If she understood it, then she could control it, and she knew it wouldn't be a bother to her. But she didn't understand Billy, and couldn't bring herself to.

"Are you really a demon?" Billy asked suddenly, popping one eye open to look at her.

"Yes." Raven answered quickly, putting on her mask of apathy to cover up her own frustration.

Billy gave this some thought.

"I don't think ya are." Billy said.

"...What do you mean? I've got pale skin, purple eyes, and I can use magic." Raven said as if Billy were an idiot - which she didn't doubt.

"Well...my mama told me my whole life about demons and about dealing with the devil and all that nonsense. You know - she put the fear of God in me, like she was s'posed to." Billy said, looking up at the broken ceiling and reminiscing.

"She always talked about how old red man wouldn't do nothing but bring ya to shame if ya dealt with him, 'bout how demons struck fear into your heart the damn near second ya looked at him. I've been afraid of demons my whole life - it took me nearly a full year and a half to really become friends with Wykkyd." Billy continued to explain. Billy turned and looked over at Raven.

"But you don't scare me none." Billy said.

Raven hated this, she hated not understanding why Billy was telling her this, why he was so open all the time.

"Ya know," He began, looking at the ceiling again, "I had a lil sister once."

"Her name was Marcy. She was the smallest of us. I had nine siblings growing up, but most days it felt like just me and her. I couldn't really count on none of the rest of my family." Billy said, smiling at the memory.

"She was a lot like you. She was confident, she was brave, she was strong and smart, and she was apathetic because that's what kept her alive. But really, Marcy...she was just so afraid, all the time. She was the smallest of us." Billy said, smile slowly fading.

"...Marcy died when she was twelve years old. I...I _watched_ her die. I watched and I blame myself every single damn day for freezing up and not being able to do nothing. She died and she died thinking her brother didn't care none for her at all. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't any better than my other brothers. I was an asshole my whole life. I never played with her, never helped her when she got hurt, the only difference between me and the rest was that I would listen when she cried." Billy said, smile gone. He looked up at Raven again.

"...You're scared, too. I know ya are, I can see it. Your fingers keep shaking whenever we reach a new door, and even when we ain't in here, I've seen you look near terrified every time you say your lil magic words in battle." Billy said to Raven's dumbfounded face.

"I know ya hate me, I understand that. I can accept that. But...you're scared, and you're just like my Marcy. I'm not gonna let another Marcy die because I can't put my pride away enough to just be nice to her, and make her even a little bit less afraid." Billy stated.

Raven didn't hear anything after that. She sat there and stared at the ceiling for hours after Billy had fallen asleep. Billy had figured her out before she could figure him out. She was enraged, she was dumbfounded, she was flabbergasted, she was...relieved. So, so relieved.

Raven was a single child growing up. No mother, no father, no siblings. She learned at a young age to protect herself and to take the pain and to fight through it. For the first time in her life, maybe she didn't have to fight through the fear alone.

[Read and Review please!]


	12. Fortnight: Circus

[I do not own Teen Titans or any characters mentioned in this story. I finally got someone to talk to me about this ship, I'm so happy. When I get done with this story I may open another one that focuses on this ship, I really want to.]

Mammoth hated this. He hated being tied down, chained up in some random holding cell like an animal. He'd been treated like a chained animal his whole life - by the ringmaster, by Brother Blood, by most prison wardens.

Mammoth was bone tired. He could barely feel his own arms, and when he tried to move them they ached and groaned in the effort. He had been trying aimlessly all night to break from the black chains his strange looking captors had locked him in. Honestly, Mammoth felt ashamed of himself. There were only two chains, one secured to each of his wrists, connected to either wall. And yet, he wasn't strong enough to break them. He wasn't strong enough to break the chains, he wasn't strong enough to escape, and he wasn't strong enough to save Starfire.

Starfire.

Who knows what happened to Starfire. They could be torturing her, hurting her, making her cry and it was all Mammoth's fault for not being strong enough to save her in the first place.

Mammoth gave in and tried to do what Starfire told him. He sat down, relaxed, and he breathed. He closed his eyes and instead of thinking of everyone who'd hurt him, everyone he'd get vengeance on, he thought of the people he cared about, who he wanted to protect.

Even though it took until several years after the fall of the HIVE, Kyd Wykkyd was the first friend Mammoth made. He listened when no one else would, and tried in earnest to help ease Mammoth's conscious. See-More was the second, the friend that would do everything in his power to make Mammoth happy when he was sad. And then...Starfire. Starfire was the first person he'd ever met to not immediately back away from him, instead approaching him first in most fights. She was his enemy, but she was kind, smart, beautiful, brave, strong, nice - she was in danger.

Mammoth brought his hands together with a cry of determination, the chains snapping as if they were no more than toys. Mammoth didn't give himself enough time to jump for joy, instead already charging his way through the bars of the cage, then running for his life through the hallways of the prison-like area they were in.

He charged straight through any captors that stood in his way, his mind only screaming that he couldn't let Starfire get hurt, no one else could get hurt because he wasn't strong enough.

Mammoth just kept running and running, slowly gathering a medium sized cluster of captors behind him, trying to get close enough to prod him with spears that had electrical wires coming from them. As Mammoth approached what looked like a dead end, he finally caught eye of a familiar head of unnaturally red hair.

Mammoth charged through the bars with a yell of her name, sliding into a crouch next to Starfire and immediately looking around her body for any marks of abuse from their captors.

Both the teens' attention was suddenly caught by a low humming sound, and right before their eyes the bars Mammoth had destroyed fixed and repurpose themselves. Now the dull black bars grew back, but they were a strange color of aqua, and seemed to be charged with some kind of energy that Mammoth didn't really want to test.

Mammoth turned to apologize for everything.

"I'm sorr-"

He was cut short by Starfire wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug, so desperately happy not to be alone anymore.

"...I...U-um…" Mammoth said nervously, his large hands shaking at the fingers as he held his arms away from Starfire's still hugging body.

"I could crush you if we were on Earth, and since your powers are dampened anyway, I don't think you'll hurt me any if you hug me, friend Mammoth." Starfire assured, knowing what it was like to constantly feel excluded and alone by not being able to interact with those with weaker bodies.

Mammoth slowly, ever so carefully wrapped his arms around Starfire, returning the hug and breaking into smiles when he realizes it wasn't hurting her.

"Are you sure your okay?" Mammoth asked after Starfire finally broke the hug.

"I am...adequate." Starfire answered, looking away.

"...What's wrong? You can tell me, I'll listen." Mammoth assured, sitting Indian style next to Starfire and leaning against the back wall with her.

"...I could understand only one word of what our captors were shouting at us earlier." Starfire said, still refusing to look Mammoth in the eye.

"Oh yeah?" Mammoth asked.

"...Slave." Starfire said meekly, determined not to turn and let Mammoth see the tears pricking her eyes. She glared down at the ground, angry at her eyes for betraying her trust.

"...You...you do not know...what it is like. None of the Titans do either, they could never understand. To be...to be treated like filth, to be abused and malnourished and hated for being who you are. To be forced to sit and smile while they scream insults and throw objects at you. To be gawked at! To be marveled as if you are a freak of The Creator's hands! To- To-!" Starfire said, slowly getting louder as her anguish grew.

"I know." Mammoth said solemnly.

"...No! I do not believe you do!" Starfire said indignantly.

"Have you ever been a circus freak, princess? It's pretty similar. Every day they haul you out of the dark little box they keep you in, and they put you on display. And you have to stand there and take it while they laugh and they throw things and they insult your pride over and over and over again because that's your job. You have to sit and smile because your ringmaster doesn't _have_ to feed you. He doesn't _have_ to let you sleep tonight, or let you see your sister ever again." Mammoth said, his voice unmoving, unchanging as he shared something no one knew but Blood. Starfire was stunned into silence.

"...I'm...I'm so sorry." Starfire said, finally turning and letting Mammoth see the tears falling down her cheeks.

"...me too." Mammoth said in a strained voice, tears pricking his own eyes.

They sat in silence for a while after that, just leaning on the same wall and staring at the ceiling, not daring to break the silence and the anguish they were both reliving.

"...Mammoth?" Starfire said in a meek, small voice.

"...Yeah?" He asked, not looking away from the ceiling.

"...I am afraid." Starfire admitted, her voice cracking in between words.

Mammoth slowly, as to give her a chance to move away, picked the alien girl and set her in his lap, hugging her around her shoulders and warming her body that was freezing from the cell.

"Don't be. I wasn't strong enough for Selinda, or for my mom or my dad. But when you're around it's different. I'm stronger with you."

"I'll be strong enough to save us, I promise."

[Being hugged by Mammoth would be so nice, like hugging a giant grizzly bear. Read and Review please!]


End file.
